Xmas, Yuletide and the Winter Solstice

By Pat Regan

Is the widely-accepted Jesus Myth the real ‘Reason for the Season’ – or just more fundamentalist misinformation?

What they DON’T tell you about modern Christmas traditions.

The contemporary Christian feast-day of Christmas originates from the vast storehouse of our ancient Pagan past.

The actual date of the alleged Jesus Christ’s birthday is unidentified. Even the gospels fail to specify the exact time of this mythical figure’s commencement. In fact the Church only set up the official date of Christ’s birth in AD 273.

The early Church, eager to win converts from the natural old earth-orientated faiths, saw an enormous theocratical advantage to be gained by adopting this native midwinter festival. This shrewd spiritual stratagem was applied with equal vigour to ALL our indigenous Pagan feast-days.

The whole Christian year is clandestinely grafted onto a much older Pagan agricultural calendar, which links intimately with the solar orb/seasonal cycles. Thousands of years before the Christian cult was first instigated, our Pagan forefathers were celebrating the happy feast of the Midwinter Solstice. Everywhere people honoured the birth of the ‘Sun-God’ under his numerous titles and epithets.

Midwinter marked the period when the sun was at its lowest point in the sky. This truth was acknowledged and vitalised by the ancients as the time of ‘New-birth.’ From now onward the days would grow lighter as the solar power of the great ‘Life-giver’ increased.

Christianity merely took the name ‘Sun’ and converted it into ‘Son’ so as to give the new intolerant faith from the East a more acceptable countenance for our Pagan ancestors.

This clever subterfuge ensured that the indigenous peoples would still retain their old festival dates, whilst jettisoning their original rich spirituality for the new man-made monotheistic doctrine.

The Roman Saturnalia – origin of most Xmas customs

Most Christmas tradition and customs are transparently based on the old Roman feast of the ‘Saturnalia,’ which was enjoyed for seven days toward the end of December.

During the celebration of the god Saturn all schools, courts, businesses etc would remain closed. Slaves and masters would reverse roles with masters serving their subordinates at table etc. Incidentally, this custom still remains within our native consciousness even today. The charity aspect of the Solstice is common to everyone.

Army officers still serve their minions at Xmas dinner; employers worldwide still give large parties for their workers and folk exchange loving presents. A small cap known as a ‘Pileus’ was the Roman sign of a freeman. During the Saturnalia slaves were allowed to wear this head covering at the banquet. This is a fact worth remembering when people next enter into the party spirit and don silly hats at their Xmas Feast.

The word ‘Yule’ stems from the old Viking word ‘Iul’ meaning Wheel – Yule being the lowest ebb in the sun’s travel through the wheel of the year.

The Yule log was traditionally cut from an oak-tree. This wood was sacred to the Thunder God Thor, who is also known as ‘Thunor. This deity gives his name to Thursday (Thor’s-day). The Yule log, after being charred by fire, was believed to protect a dwelling from lightening strike.

Mistletoe was seen as an all-healing plant and sacred to the Norse deity Balder. This plant was used by druidic priests and native healers to promote fertility. It is still used today in a magical sense, i.e. the tradition of kissing under the mistletoe!

Holly is of course a customary part of Yuletide and like the mistletoe it has traditional connections. It is sacred to Saturn, God of the Dying Year and was hung outside houses by the Romans to avert psychic attack, lightening and perceived evils of any kind.

Ivy is an evergreen climbing plant symbolising immortality. It has been perceived as a representation of eternal life in numerous Pagan faith systems including Druidism, the spiritual ethos of the Celtic peoples.

Today’s Father Christmas image is based upon the Holly-King figure of Odin, the Norse Father – God who rode through the night’s sky not on a reindeer but a fast white charger. The aspect of his red and white costume (and flying through the sky) is possibly linked to the use of the brightly coloured hallucinogenic mushroom, Fly Agaric by Norse Shamans and warriors before battle.

Xmas trees originate from ancient rites of the great, Phrygian Mother Goddess Cybele. Her worship was brought to Rome in 204BC.

A Pine tree was felled and placed within her sacred temple then decorated with lavish adornments of beautiful flowers and coloured wools, etc.

I consider that it is quite likely that the tree custom travelled with the Legions into Germanic localities and amalgamated with native tradition there at some later date. We should possibly give credit for the tree’s modern day usage in celebration to Drusus the Elder who embarked upon a military campaign for Roman domination against the Germanic and Raetian tribes in 15 BC.

Any seriously unbiased investigation into the historical side of Christmas traditions clearly reveals that Christianity has no right whatsoever to claim an exclusive monopoly of the Sun/Resurrection god situation.

The Christian re-born Sun-God Myth is but the latest in a long line of deity modifications.

So why did the Xtian Church commandeer original Pagan Midwinter Solstice celebrations and replace them with Xmas? Why the 25th December?

OK folks – so let’s examine a few hard facts, rather than continue to perpetuate the same old fundamentalist half-truths about midwinter celebrations.

Numerous crucified sun gods have their customary birthday on December 25th.

This is because the ancients acknowledged that the sun makes a yearly descent southward in anticipation of December 21^st or 22^nd , the Winter Solstice, when it stops moving southerly for three days and next starts to move northward again. During this period our wise ancient forbears affirmed that God’s sun had died for three days and was ‘born again’ on December 25th.

The ancients realised that they needed the sun to come back every day and that they would be in immense difficulty if the sun continued to move southward and did not stop and repeal its direction. Therefore, countless diverse cultures celebrated their ‘Sun of God’s’ anniversary on December 25th.

Fundamentalists within the early Christian Church merely adopted the heathen, earth-orientated midwinter celebrations to equate with their newly fashioned adaptation of the Sun God, Jesus Christ, known as the Son of God!

Sun God mythos – how the Church skilfully manipulated your mindset

The Christian Christmas tradition stands as a prime example of clever, theocratical mind control of the masses.

The following are prominent qualities of the ubiquitous Sun God mythos, which can be related to contemporary Christian recycling of much older Pagan mythology.

Consider the following:

·        The sun dies for three days on December 22^nd, the Winter Solstice; when it stops in travels southward, to be born again (resurrected) on December 25th, when it continues its progress north.

·        In various areas, the calendar originally began in the constellation of Virgo and the sun would consequently be perceived as being ‘Born of a virgin.’

·       The sun is of course the ‘Light of the World.’

·       The sun ‘Cometh on clouds and every eye shall see him.’

·       The sun rising in the morning is the ‘Saviour of mankind.’

·       The sun wears a corona, crown of thorns or ‘Circle of light’ (halo).

·       The sun is seen to ‘Walk on water.’

·       The sun’s follower’s helpers (disciples) are the 12 months and the 12 signs of the zodiac or constellations, through which the sun has to pass.

·       The sun at 12 noon is in the house/temple of the ‘Most High,’ consequently ‘He’ begins ‘his Father’s work’ at the age of 12.

·       The sun enters each sign of the zodiac at 30°; hence, the ‘Sun of God’ begins his ministry at the age of 30.

·       The sun is hung on a cross (crucified) which represents its passing through the equinoxes, the spring/vernal equinox being Easter, at which time it is then reborn.

It does not take a genius to distinguish the great similarities with the above when compared to the Jesus myth. The Church fathers simply used previous heathen legend/tradition to fashion their innovative, patriarchal doctrine. Yes – it’s all been done before!

The early Church made light work of selling its newly-formed Christ god template to the trusting Pagan masses and quite easily substituted the wholesome solar/agricultural calendar for a new man-made one based on its theocratical, monotheistic prospectus.

In view of the above, can ‘you’ see how you have been clandestinely manipulated, by shrewd fundamentalists of old; into believing an exceptionally clever, religiously-based falsehood?

There is of course – nothing new under the sun!

The older god-forms related to Xmas

Attis, Adonis, Sol, Mithras, these gods and numerous others were celebrated during seasonal solar cycles long before the ‘Jesus story’ was ever manufactured by sectarian, monotheistic interest groups with an axe to ground against the social structure of the day!

I wonder ‘Who’ will contest the Sun God title next.

We would do well to recall the old maxim: ‘History repeats itself.’

Yuletide/Midwinter Solstice is an indispensable element of our indigenous, Pagan spiritual heritage. It conjoins us with the wondrous seasonal energies of this planet of which we are all an integral part. We should always celebrate and enjoy it to the full!

And so what of the term ‘Xmas’ – is it a shortened version of the word ‘Christmas’?

Well in fact the answer is – No!

December, under the earlier Roman calendar, used to be, the 10^th month of the year: the 1^st month (March) being given to the god Mars.

The Roman numeral for 10 is of course ‘X’, thus Xmas rather than being an abbreviation of a modern Christian festival can be seen as being the Pagan ‘Mass of the 10th month’; A happy time when the Saturnalia was celebrated with great merriment.

The genuine ‘REASON FOR THE SEASON’ has been carefully disguised by crafty fundamentalists with hidden agendas over the centuries. And billions of individuals seeking spiritual deliverance, through the generations, have fallen for this gigantic religious subterfuge without as much as a question.

This most recent recycled Christian dogmatisation of the wholesome Midwinter Solstice celebration is nothing but a man – made ecclesiastical perversion of a much older organic truth that links humanity to the planet, the universe (on a natural level) and beyond.

There is of course – nothing new under the sun!

It is time for our species to wake up from this church-enforced medieval slumber, and smell the coffee!

Latest Xmas spin from the Faithful

Of course the ‘Faithful’ push on regardless of primeval truth and the wheel of fundamentalist deception rolls on.

It was recently reported (2^nd December 2010) that Christians across the UK were taking a stand for their faith with the launch of the countrywide ‘Not Ashamed’ campaign.

http://www.christiantoday.co.uk/article/lord.carey.says.christianity.is.under.attack.in.britain/27181.htm

The campaign is apparently being lead by ‘Christian Concern’ and has the support of the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey who stated when speaking about Christmas:

“So, it appears that flowing from a combination of well-meaning political correctness, multiculturalism and overt opposition to Christianity, a new climate, hostile to our country’s tradition and history, is developing.”

Lord Carey conveniently omits to tell the ‘Faithful’ during all his chaotic religious drum-beating that his new missionary outreach to the un-churched masses contains the same old worn out elements of evangelical spin, that I have freely accentuated above.

Our “country’s tradition and history” has he calls it is quite different to the misleading religious propaganda that he and his devoted colleagues trot out each Xmas.

Thankfully, free-thinkers ‘everywhere’ can now access historical data relating to ancient myth and traditions.

This data was previously withheld from public scrutiny by the autocratic Church authorities; it easily dismisses the sanctimonious claims spouted by Lord Carey and his ilk, regarding the authentic meanings behind our most ancient, Pre-Christian traditions.

How long will it be before mankind finally wakes up to the truth behind the Jesus myth spin that we are drip – fed from birth?

The awesome storehouse of our Pagan birthright is immeasurable and it is there; waiting like the first snow of winter, to be freely discovered by all.

I sincerely wish all readers a very happy Yuletide, Midwinter joy, and Saturnalian blessings.